The Chicago Cubs celebrate on the field after winning the first World Series for the franchise in 108 years. (Getty)
Call it home-field advantage.
The Chicago Cubs announced Tuesday that the team will visit President Barack Obama at the before he leaves office January 20 instead of meeting with President-elect Donald Trump when he takes over.
The visit to the White House honors Obama’s tweet after the White Sox fan and Chicago native saw the Cubs parade around the Windy City with the world series trophy.
Cubs official confirms World Series champs will visit White House on Monday, days before Pres. Obama leaves office: t.co/dCF24Gt56X
CSN Chicago reported that Cubs general manager Theo Epstein said about Obama’s tweet:
I know after (Obama) tweeted that out – and that was well before the election – there was a lot of interest from our players in taking him up on that invitation. There was some momentum for it. So we’ll see. Nothing has been finalized. But we’ll see where it goes. It would be nice given his Chicago ties.
NBC Chicago reported that the Cubs were invited to the White House after manager Joe Maddon received a call from Obama following the 2016 World Series win in Game 7 against the Cleveland Indians, and with the whole team having a reunion January 14 at the Cubs Convention, it seemed like a perfect time to get to Washington D.C. with just days left in Obama’s tenure.
The Chicago Sun Times reported that a “significant majority” of the Cubs’ roster was able to travel D.C. on Monday, though it’s not fully expected how many players on the roster will make the trek to D.C.
In late November, Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts was named the deputy commerce secretary. Rickett’s family is reportedly worth $1 billion, according to Forbes.